Most coordinators of Family Health Units (USF) consider that these structures lost autonomy with the generalization of Local Health Units (ULS), which made model B, with payment by objectives, “less attractive”. The work “The Current Situation of Primary Health Care in Portugal”, which aimed to characterize the state of the 2005 Primary Health Care reform, concluded that more than half of the USF (54,5%) consider that the ULS of which they are integrated does not respect their autonomy, results considered “worrying” by the association. In addition to more autonomy for the Primary Health Care (CSP) management bodies, the USF coordinators defend the need for more financial autonomy for the ULS – which integrates health centers and hospitals – for the hiring of professionals and services. In this regard, USF-AN considers that it would have been better to maintain the transition using model A, “with adequate support from the support teams” and the ULS. The USF coordinators criticize the way in which the generalization of the ULS, which came into force this year, took place, considering that it was “poorly planned, structured and transparent”.

Source: The Local October 19, 2024 00:50 UTC